Eric Binder Trio

About Eric Binder Trio

Malcolm Cecil has had two remarkable careers. Born in London, he took up the bass fairly young in life. He made his recording debut in 1957 on two songs led by pianist Dill Jones. An important figure in the British jazz scene of the 1960s, Cecil worked with the Jazz Five, Ronnie Scott, tenor-saxophonist Dick Morrissey, drummer Tony Crombie, and Blues Incorporated. He recorded in London with Morrissey, Crombie, bongo player Jack Costanzo, Annie Ross, Johnny Griffin, Stan Getz, guitarist Ernest Ranglin and Ronnie Scott (an album that included appearances by Sonny Stitt, Donald Byrd and J.J. Johnson). He also had opportunities to play with Tubby Hayes, Jackie McLean, Zoot Sims and other jazz greats from both England and the United States. A swinging bassist with a large tone and a fine soloist, Cecil was a regular at Ronnie Scott’s club for years.

However Malcolm Cecil also proved to be a very skilled record producer, engineer, programmer and keyboardist. While he played bass on Jim Hall’s 1971 album Where Would I Be and synthesizer on a Herbie Mann recording from 1982 that featured Stephane Grappelli, after the mid-1960s he was mostly in-demand behind the scenes. Among the many artists whose recordings Cecil uplifted with his knowledge and production talents were Stevie Wonder, Gil Scott-Heron, Quincy Jones, Richie Havens, Ginger Baker, Steven Stills, the Doobie Brothers, Randy Newman, the Isley Brothers, Billy Preston, Weather Report, Minnie Ripperton, Joan Baez, James Taylor, Dianne Reeves, Norman Connors, and Randy Newman.

Due to all of the production work, Malcolm Cecil’s brilliance as a bassist became overlooked. While he made a couple of obscure trio albums in 1998 with pianist Geoffrey Aymar and a 2008 CD with tenor-saxophonist George De Leon, it is long overdue for the focus to shift back to his jazz playing.

The Malcolm Cecil Project matches the bassist with Joel Frahm and Eric Binder. A major force on the New York jazz scene since the mid-1990s, Frahm has played tenor with many in the who’s who of jazz including Matt Wilson, Jim Cifeli’s New York Nonet, Brad Mehldau, Jane Monheit, trumpeter Avishai Cohen, Dena DeRose, Tessa Souter, Cyrus Chestnut, Cyrille Aimee and Kurt Rosenwinkel in addition to his own groups. The young up-and-coming drummer Eric Binder, who led his first CD in 2014, is an energetic and adventurous musician who already has a unique sound.